1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor light-emitting element and an element formation substrate used for such an element.
2. Related Background Art
In the prior art, GaN single-crystal substrates have been used in the manufacture of semiconductor lasers, light-emitting diodes, and other semiconductor light-emitting elements. For example, such methods are disclosed in Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 85, No. 22 (2004), p. 5143-5145, and in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 45, No. 45 (2006), p. L1197-L1199, which are non-patent references.
It is know that when the GaN single-crystal substrate has numerous crystal defects, there is degradation of the light emission intensity, element lifetime, and other characteristics of a semiconductor light-emitting element fabricated using the substrate. Hence the inventors presented, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-183100, a GaN single-crystal substrate grown on a c-plane, and manufacturing method thereof, in which defects are intentionally aggregated in one portion (a defect aggregation portion).
By means of such a GaN single-crystal substrate, the crystal defects in the remainder portions of the defect aggregation portions can be effectively reduced, and by using this low-defect portion, degradation of element characteristics due to crystal defects can be adequately suppressed.